Anima: Killing The Mockingbird
by FoxAnima
Summary: A young girl and her sister escape the confines of slavery. Realizing their anima powers, they must face the world alone. They eventually meet up with Cooro, Husky, Senri, and Nana.
1. Chapter 1

**FoxAnima:**

O.O

Oh no, it's almost time for you guys to learn the origin of my pen name.

: P

Anyways, this'll be a fic about the manga +Anima.

Yes, I am well aware that many people have never heard of it.

But I don't care. This story has been stuck in my head for a while now and its time to write it down.

So here we go:

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**Anima**: Killing the Mockingbird

Chapter 1

Cotton Spores

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Mataya plucked a ripe strawberry from its bush and popped it into her mouth, savouring its sweet taste.

Her sister, Elizabeth, was rolling and jumping ahead of her in the grass, giggling madly.

She sighed, leaning back onto the grassy bank and watching the people in the town bustle about.

Ever since Mataya discovered it, she often hid in her strawberry grove up on Jada Hill. Escaping her monotonous day to day life to come and daydream.

She dreamt of many things; adventure was a main one. Escaping the town of Aitsu and fulfilling her destiny, eventually finding a mate and having many children.

But, unfortunately, Mataya's life consisted of hard labour in the cotton fields of Aitsu with her sister and mother, along with the many other slaves that belonged to the people of Tsuget Hall.

Lord Tsuget was a tyrant, a pervert, and a wife beater. He slept with most of his female slaves, and had dozens of bastard babies with them, leaving the children he had with his actual wife to the maids of his mansion-like home.

So far, Mataya and her sister were spared from such a fate.

Many of the girls she had grown up with had all been raped by Lord Tsuget and his two eldest sons, Tor and Tadc.

She pushed those thoughts away and sighed.

Standing up, Mataya brushed off her long plaid skirt, straightening the hem of her lightly ruffled linen blouse.

Running a dainty and lightly calloused hand through her waist length red hair, she called to her sister; "Elizabeth! We should be getting back now!"

Elizabeth popped out of seemingly nowhere, surprising Mataya, who let out a slight "eep".

"Aww," She whined, her lavender eyes twinkling, "I don't wanna go back!"

"Come on," Mataya said, with an air of finality, "We're already late."

Plucking one last strawberry from its bush, Mataya grasped her younger sister's hand and together they walked back down to the village.

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The punishment for tardiness was harsh.

Sparing Elizabeth because of her age, Mataya was beaten with twice the amount of fury.

But she took it silently.

By now she was used to it. Since she found her field she and her sister were constantly gone from their home.

Not like they had much of a home.

Mataya and Elizabeth lived with their mother at the very edge of Tsuget's manor. They were in the extremes of poverty and barely had enough money to put food on the table. But it was an honest life, despite one completely dominated by the rules of their lord.

Mataya always seemed happy, not really worried about her future, but inside she was desperate to escape the confines of slavery and adventure to far-off lands.

Her grandmother helped to put these thoughts in her head before she had died.

Mataya's grandmother was not born into slavery, she was born free.

Elizabeth was not alive before her grandmother died, but if she was she would have been entranced by the stories that were told, much like Mataya had been.

And so, every night, Mataya would ponder ways to escape Aitsu with her mother and sister, and be free.

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The sun beat down harshly on Mataya's exposed neck, she was sweating profusely.

Quickly and skillfully she plucked the cotton from the plants, dropping the soft reward into her burlap sack.

Elizabeth had just become a cotton picker no more than a few months ago, so was slower and rather clumsy at it.

Their mother was ahead of the two, picking even faster than Mataya, her bag almost full.

Mataya's friend, Jesse, was picking in the next row over; they often laughed and talked while at their work.

"Jesse," Mataya said, with a twinkle glowing behind her emerald eyes, "Is it just me, or are you working slower than usual today?"

"Oh, well hah hah, very funny," Jesse huffed, "I'm just feeling a little off today, that's all,"

The conversation ended there, it was far too hot to speak for such a long period.

Mataya looked back over at her friend no more than an hour later; she had fallen behind.

"Are you sure you're alright, Jesse?" she asked, "You look a little pale,"

Jesse did not answer. Mataya gasped as her friend's eyes rolled to the back of her skull, then fell to the ground with a soft thump.

Mataya rushed over to her friend's side, lifting her head onto her lap.

"Jesse!" she cried frantically.

"I'll get the warden," her mother said as she rushed off to find him.

"Please, Jesse, please wake up" Mataya breathed, fanning her hot face, "We need to get her into some shade,"

"But where?" Elizabeth asked, tears running down her five-year-old face.

Mataya looked around frantically, realizing the situation.

They were no trees anywhere nearby.

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Mataya lay on her straw mat, tears running quietly down her pale face. The cool, dark room not nearly as comforting as it usually was.

The warden did not come as her mother had asked him to, so Jesse was unable to receive any medical help.

She died.

"Mataya?" Elizabeth called out to her from the identical straw mat beside hers.

"Yes?" Mataya called out

"Are you mad?"

Mataya thought for a moment, "No Lizzie, I'm not mad."

Elizabeth sat up and looked at Mataya, "Are you scared?"

"No,"

Elizabeth rustled around with her blanket, "Well, just in case you get scared, can I sleep with you?"

Mataya smiled, making room in the bed for Elizabeth, "Of course you can."

Snuggling up to her older sister, Elizabeth felt content with her life.

Quite the opposite of Mataya, who was devising ways to escape her life as a slave.

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**FoxAnima:**

Phew, finally.

I had to get that story off my chest.

It was bugging the hell outta me.

Anywho, if you are sincerely interested in this story and want me to continue, than submit some reviews.

I won't continue unless I get some.

Love yaz!


	2. Chapter 2

**FoxAnima:**

A thousand pardons, my friends for the long and tiresome wait.

I can only hope you had the patience to wait for me to get my butt in gear.

Thank you so much for the reviews, they definitely helped in my motivation!

Here's the next chapter!

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**Anima:** Killing the Mockingbird

Chapter 2

Dandelion

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"Don't be stupid!" Mother hissed, giving Mataya only the sternest of looks.

"Mother!" Mataya objected, picking the tufts of cotton just a little quicker to catch up to her skilled parent, "We can't live here! There's a whole world to explore, Grandmama always sai-"

"Sh!" Mother warned Mataya, "The Warden is near, if he hears your nonsense…!"

Mataya lowered her voice, careful to continue picking as she insisted, "Jesse is dead, Mama! They didn't even care, we can leave! Go in the night, I've seen ways, I know where to go. We'll run into the forest-"

Mama's slap knocked Mataya backwards, her stinging face hardly soothed by her hot tears.

"No more talk of this."

_And it was final._

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_At least it __**was**__ final._

_It was final until the beatings that night._

_The beatings for the pause in work witnessed by the Warden that day._

_The beatings that broke little Elizabeth's right arm._

_She was old enough to be beaten now, and Mama couldn't take the sight of another daughter ravaged as Mataya was._

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No bags, no luggage, nothing.

The dead black of the night cloaked the three girls as they skirted along the confines of the camp. The stale, cool air gave them no relief, the sweat on their brows obscuring their eyesight ever so slightly. This was dangerous, so so dangerous, but as proven the night before, so necessary.

Mataya knew the way. Her small field was at the edge of Tsuget manor, surrounded by the barbed wire fence. The single exit was monitored at all times by several men, and was most definitely not the exit the girls were aiming for. At the edge of her field, the wire was thinner, and unguarded.

"Mataya, Elizabeth, stop please. I need to say something to you." Mama gasped. The three crouched behind the final shed in the complex – the home of Stuart and Hilary, their friends.

"Yes, Mama?" Elizabeth whispered. The child only having a half idea of what was happening.

"This is terribly dangerous. You two know we may die."

The sisters nodded solemnly.

"I love you" The three said at once, then giggled quietly, turning sharply to confirm they hadn't been heard, then sighing in relief. "Let's continue," Mama said, kissing both girls quickly on the forehead, "This field is long and bare, we must run quickly, and low to the ground."

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The three cursed their luck as they surveyed their safety. The field was bathed in moonlight, being unseen was not an option. Elizabeth examined her right arm, the makeshift cast fixed on by her mother consisting of her other shirt and 3 sticks found outside their shed.

_But neither is staying here._

The girls sped across the small slope, Elizabeth gasping as she trod on a strawberry. Mataya's hold on her wrist prevented her from stopping, dragging the small slave forward more.

_Voices!_

The party stopped, catching a snatch of the conversation between the two sons of Tsuget: Tor and Tadc, "Father's taking us to the Coliseum tomorrow, eh Tadc? That Maggie's a sweet one, that's for-"

"What are they doing here?!" Mama hissed, her voice ragged with fatigue.

Too loud, the men stopped talking. Hushing each other and attempting to find the source of the noise.

Footsteps. A cocked shotgun.

_A gun?!_

"Run!" Mama hissed, "Don't look back!"

And they ran.

_So close to the fence now._

A tear ran down Mataya's cheek, Elizabeth dragging behind her. Mama back there, slower.

_So close so close, freedom!_

The crack of the shotgun filled the air, Mama's cry.

_Please please, we need to get out!_

The men were hooting now with excitement, shooting wildly at the remaining girls.

They reached the fence, Elizabeth first, under easily. A fox had dug a shallow route underneath. Mataya was larger.

_Dig dig dig._

She clawed at the ground, dirt flying, fingers scraping and bleeding; the yip of a nearby animal hardly audible above the men's ruckus.

-Zing-

So close now, a bullet sped past her ear and ricocheted off the wood support of the fence.

"Hide Lizzie! Run, I'll find you"

She obeyed, and Mataya continued digging, tearing, spittle shooting from her gasping mouth.

_Mama's gone, Mama's gone, and I'll be gone too, please please, Mama help me!_

Pain, terrible terrible pain. It burned right through her backbone, tearing, ripping, bleeding. Mataya screamed, howled. More yips in the distance.

The moon was full and so beautiful.

The men yelled in victory, as Mataya fell, walking slowly the many yards that distanced them from their prize.

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**FoxAnima:**

And there **will** be a next chapter out either very soon, or sometime in February.

Send me hate mail if I don't come through!

:P I hope you enjoyed the second installment of

**Anima:** Killing the Mockingbird

_Next chapter: _Fox


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